Watkins Glen

Type: Public Road / Street Circuit
Length: 6.600 Miles / 10.621 km
Used:
1948-1952

Photo's Taken: September 2005

Track information on circuit monument


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Watkins Glen Road track memorial.


Track Information. The text of the plaque is reproduced below:

On this spot the green flag dropped for twenty-three sports cars to start the first road race in the United States after World War II. It was October 2, a beautiful, crisp Saturday in 1948. The event, sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, (SCCA) sponsored by the village of Watkins Glen and attended by an estimated 5,000 spectators, marked the beginning of a racing era at Waktkins Glen, and throughout the country. It was the first closed-circuit race in the country following WWII to be run on public roads. The 6.6 mile course started at this spot with a quarter mile straight on Franklin Street, turned sharp right on Old Corning Hill Road, with a steep climb to the White House esses, across a plateau to School House Corner, then a rapid descent to Cornett's Stone Bridge, up again over serpentine oiled gravel to a sharp right at Archie Smith's dirt surfaced corner, down a slightly bent, fast straight to the railroad crossing, where the New York Central held up trains for the races, leading to a mile long descent into the village 'round a long sweeping right hand bend on cement - then macadam, climaxed by an abrupt 25 mph left, a split second straight with a hard right onto Franklin Street back past the start/finish line.

At the end of four laps, fifteen cars qualified for the main event which ran eight laps. Eleven cars finished the race.

In 1952, the last year the circuit was used, there were more than one hundred entrants!

The course may be toured today over the same roads marked with signs identifying the special features of the circuit.

Starting Grid for the 1948 Race

CLASS A: Less than 1.5 Litres Engine Displacement
car no. model driver

2 MG TC Supercharged Cameron Argetsinger
3 MG TC Dean Bedford, Jr.
7 MG TC Denver B. Cornett
14 MG TC Williams F. Gallagher
20 MG J4 Midget Otto Linton
29 MG TC Phil Stiles
CLASS B: 1.5 to 3.0 Litres Engine Displacement
car no. model driver

4 Jaguar SS-1 George F. Boardman
5 B.N.C. Type 527 George C. Caswell
25 MG TC Supercharged Miles Collier
24 MG TC Supercharged Sam Collier
16 Bugatti T38 Bob Gegen
35 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Frank T. Griswold
17 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 George S. Hendrie
8 MG TC Supercharge Haig Ksayian
21 Bugatti T35A William Milliken, Jr.
CLASS C: 3.0 to 4.5 Litres Engine Displacement
car no. model driver

33 Duesenberg 1930 J. J. Brundage
12 Vauxhall OE 30/98 George Felton
18 Merlin Special Kenneth F. Hill
31 Maserati V8RI George Weaver
32 BB Black Hawk Dudley C. Wilson
CLASS D: More Than 4.5 Litres Engine Displacement
car no. model driver

1 Mercedes Benz S Charles S. Addams
9 BuMerc Special Briggs Cunningham
30 Lagonda Rapide Mike Vaughn

See also: Collier memorial


Photographs kindly supplied by Cullen Noonen. Reproduced here with kind permission.